Lost in our path of Life
by The Italian
Summary: "Here's the thing, kid: We don't get to choose how we start in this life. Real 'greatness' is what you do with the hand you're dealt." PresentAU NaruHina later. From the beginning Naruto had to fight without so much as a friend to be there. One day a man rescues him from the streets only to find out he is now under the jurisdiction of the cities most dangerous crime boss. lucky him
1. Chapter 1

"Toss me the wallet, drop the bags and phones now."

The chilling December air swept through the empty streets of Konoha, well, almost empty anyway. A family of four, all bundled up in extravagant jackets, were returning home at around 1 in the morning from a very well-acted play at the local theater. The idea of walking to and from the theater seemed like a good way to have some family bonding time, seeing as though everyone was busy with either school or work.

For all intents and purposes it did work. The family enjoyed each other's presence and on the way to the theater, conversations never stopped popping up, things like what was going on at school with their classmates or idiotic things and people seen at work.

That continued on the way back too, this time the main topic was how handsome the man who played the lead role was, much to the dismay of one member.

Then this happened.

Hinata, stopped her conversation about one of her sensei's at school. Looking ahead, as well as her family, a man stood in their pathway. He looked a few inches shorter than her father, which would put him at about 6-foot-2, way taller than her 5-foot-8 figure. He wasn't there a second ago, where in Kami's name did he come from? An alleyway was to the mysterious man's left, branching off from the sidewalk they were on. _'He must've stepped out when we got close'_ Hinata thought to herself.

Hitomi, unconsciously wrapped both of her arms around her two daughters and took note of the man's appearance. His face was covered by the darkness and the black hood that was covering the rest of him. The black jeans he wore had holes in them giving her a good look at some nasty cuts and despite the terrible street lighting she saw something weird. He seemed to be favoring his right leg, a lot, this too seemed to be noticed by her husband.

Hiashi, looked at the man, just like his wife and felt like a moron for not bringing his firearm tonight. His hand started to rub the right pocket of his leather jacket and he felt the radio he carried with him no matter what, one call with that and half of the cities law enforcement would be here in a minute.

Hanabi, didn't know what to feel. Something like this never happened to her before, in fact it was never even mentioned at home or in school. She didn't know how to act in front of someone who could possibly hurt her or her big sister, mommy and daddy. Hanabi felt the warmth of her mother's arm wrap around her and simply continued her staring while leaning into the safety of her mommy.

Hitomi felt her little angel snuggle against her, causing her arm to wrap tighter, holding her like a nice warm vice. Thought her thoughts only wavered before returning to the kid, yes, kid. There was no possible way he was above the age of 15, the same age as her beautiful Hinata.

"I said, toss me the wallet, and drop the bags and phones now! Do it! I-I don't want to hurt anyone." The shady robber cursed at himself for the stutter, _'Remember why_ _you're doing this'_ he thought to himself. "Don't make the mistake of me having to repeat myself again."

She noticed the stutter in his sentence and saw the shivering that came afterwards, and it didn't come from the wind. Hitomi was convinced something bigger was going on here.

"No the only mistake you're making scum is trying to threaten me and my family." Hiashi rushed forward expecting to end this kid off quickly, Hitomi had tried to say something before her Husband rushed in but there was no stopping the man now.

The thief was taken off guard by the man running at him, he took a cautionary step backwards. Hitomi noticing it was his supposed bad leg and took a stance.

The punch came. Throwing up his hand the thief re-directed the punch and had barely enough time to dodge backwards as the man he intended to rob sent his free hand upwards as an uppercut was headed for the thief's chin.

Not wanting to hurt the man, the thief used his advantage to shove him backwards, the man stumbled back a few steps before coming at the kid again. Pissed even more that a kid like this had gotten the drop on him like that.

This time Hiashi bull rushed forward and successfully wrapped his hands around the thief and slammed him into the wall. Accidentally stomping down on the thief's right foot. An ear piercing scream broke through the Friday morning as the women of the family stared in horror, while tears came falling out of the Lavender eyes of Hanabi, this was all so new and scary to her.

Hitomi knew that wasn't a normal reaction for anyone to have for just having their foot stepped on. "Hiashi!" she shouted, getting the quick attention of the man while trying to immobilize the thief.

Said thief noticed the quick distraction and took advantage of the gap in the man's stance. The thief used his good leg to kick the back of the "Hiashi's' right knee. Hiashi felt his leg buckle under the kick and his hold, just like his balance, was dropped. The thief threw him away back towards the rest of his family and walked off the brick wall, nursing the foot that was stained with injury. He couldn't do this without the _'item'_ he was given earlier. He tried to do it without using it but the master was expecting him back soon and with something worth money. He couldn't return with nothing, not unless he valued his life.

Hiashi sent an annoyed glance to his wife while picking himself up from the floor, which in return got him a look of annoyance right back. What the hell? He was just trying to subdue the bastard that was threatening his family. He didn't want to hear one of her speeches about listening to the story of the person before acting. Hiashi, was one of those people to act first and ask questions later, that's what got him his job today.

With the intent to attack again Hiashi stood, only to freeze in place. Now things got deadly serious.

"I t-told y-you I didn't want to repeat myself. Give me everything n-now and I pr-promise not to hurt a-anyone." The thief that a moment ago seemed harmless was now holding his last resort in his left hand. A .38 snub Smith & Wesson revolver, silver and fully loaded, was being aimed in the general vicinity of the family. "I r-really don't want to have t-to use this b-but I will if I have to." The sound of the hammer being pulled back only emphasized his sentence.

The thief hoped this would get the family to finally stop resisting. He learned that fear ruled over peoples decisions. When people were afraid of something or more importantly someone, then they would do whatever necessary to either stay away from it or listen to a person's orders, even if it's something they don't want to do. So he prayed that the family was at last frightened of him, he looked into each of their eyes.

Standing behind the two parents, he assumed of course, were their two daughters. One looked younger than he did and was dressed in a very nice looking Panda heavy winter jacket, a pink beanie covering her hair. Right now her head was buried in what appeared to be her older sister's chest, who looked like her age.

The older sister's eyes held fear in them, the thief had gotten good at reading people's emotions the past years, but there was another type of emotion the sister held in her eyes that he couldn't quite pinpoint. The older sister was wearing a Lavender light jacket that matched her eyes and long hair. Much like the rest of her family her skin was a type of pale that was very tantalizing to him

Now he looked at the Mom. This is where his tough guy façade broke. Her eyes didn't hold a single tinge of fear. In fact what he saw was something he had never experienced in his hell of a life. The thief saw compassion. No hatred, fear, or even sympathy. No, none of that, he had heard of compassion before but seeing it directed at him now made him feel uneasy.

The hand that held the gun began to shake unbeknownst to him as the mom smiled at him, a smile that wasn't forced or anything like that, the ones he was used to by now. This one was real and genuine, an unknown sense of warmth filled his body by just looking at the woman wearing a darkish pink light jacket, her hair also Lavender and it was longer then her daughters.

"You're hurt" those two simple words hit the thief in his core, the gun started to shake more as the idea of using it started to leave his thoughts. "I can make it feel better, if you just let me-"

Hitomi disregarded her husband's looks of _'Are you crazy?'_ and took two steps towards the hurt and confused boy, she knew he didn't want to hurt anyone.

The gun was aimed at Hitomi and she stopped quickly in her tracks, the smile still plastered on her face. "Don't come any closer lady, I-I mean i-it." The gun continued its shaking and the stuttering seemed to be getting worse.

Hitomi took another three steps towards her, despite the fire arm being pointed at her. "Hitomi!" Hiashi yelled at his wife. "I said to s-stop moving, d-don't m-make me use this!" the thief absentmindedly took a step back as the lady got closer and closer.

Hinata and Hanabi watched their mother continue to walk forward. Both of them amazed at the fact that her mother was one, not listening to their father and two, was walking towards the man that was trying to rob them a minute ago.

Hinata knew her mother could find the good in anyone she came across, as her job of head nurse at the city's biggest Hospital trained her in that area of knowing a person on the inside, not judging their previous actions.

Hitomi was two steps away. "I-I'm warning you! D-Don't do-"

Warmth. The thief felt his eyes bulge as he felt new found warmth flood throughout his entire body, the coldness he had been living in seemed to melt away. The woman he threatened to shoot but a moment ago was currently wrapping him in a big hug. She was the same height as him and he found his head placed in the crook of her neck.

He had never felt this before, it was something he craved for every day and now that it was finally here for him and him alone his emotions ran loose. The thief began to cry in the crook of the kind and warm woman's neck as years and years of built up anger, frustration, pain and straight up fright were let loose.

Hitomi felt the torrent of tears and heard the sobs come from the boy and felt sorry for the young man. Obviously he's been through a lot to have this type of reaction, and something like a kid his age carrying around a revolver was mind blowing. A kid growing up shouldn't be doing things like this, Hitomi felt a plan swirl in her head, something she is sure her husband wouldn't be too proud of. But she didn't care her nurse side, caring for people in need, came out. She wouldn't let this boy suffer any longer.

The sound of metal clanking made Hitomi look to the ground, there laying on the floor was the pistol the boy was holding. It having slipped from his fingers as she felt his arms entangle around her, pulling her closer to him, the crying growing.

Hitomi smiled, he was a good kid at heart, she could tell.

Snaking her hand up his back she reached for his hood and pulled it back. The boy pulled his head away from the crook of her neck and the two of them looked at each other's face. Hitomi looked at the young boy and another sweet smile graced her lips, something the thief couldn't get enough of. The boy had fiery blonde looking moppy hair, with the most amazing electric blue eyes she's ever witnessed. His skin was plenty tan and there was no complexions covering it. There was but one problem, his right eye, there was a gash going vertically over it. The right half of his right eye was grey, was he partially blind?

All these questions and more were plaguing her mind, but only one escaped her lips. "What's your name?"

"N-Naruto." He breathed out while never breaking eye contact with her. Hitomi smiled, "That's a very good name, and I like it."

Naruto felt a smile start to form on his face, "All units, All units this is Captain Hyuga requesting all cars in the vicinity of my area, at the corner of 6th and 48th. Ready for man in custody to be taken to the station."

The smile was gone. Naruto looked at the man he fought with fear. Hiashi saw the look he was getting from the kid known as Naruto. "What?" Hiashi smiled evilly at the kid while taking out a pair of handcuffs from his back pocket.

"Hiashi! What are you doing? He's done nothing wrong, plus he's just a kid." Hitomi felt Naruto leave her embrace and start to back away from her.

"Nothing wrong!? This punk just tried to rob us at gunpoint! How can you say there's no wrong doing here? It's this kids fault for breaking the law and being dumb enough to try and rob the family of the Captain of the police force for this city." Hiashi began to walk towards Naruto and his wife, "This punk is headed to Juvie."

Naruto crouched down and grabbed the dropped gun, placing it back in his pocket. He walked backwards slowly as the nice lady he had cried on did nothing to stop her husband. Naruto clenched his teeth and wiped any trail of tears from his face, so it was all an act eh? "I never should have trusted you" Hitomi looked at the broken face of Naruto, "It was all a trick to get me to lower my guard. You don't give a damn about me, just like everyone else."

"No, no, no Naruto that's not true I do care about you and your wellbeing it's just I-"

Naruto felt all these emotions cascading down on him at once, he had no idea what to believe. But one thought reigned through all of his others. If he went to jail, then he was dead, anyone that was arrested and sent away were killed the night they were sent there, no exceptions.

He refused to be sent to jail, to his own demise. So he did what he knew best. Run.

Naruto turned and despite his foot wound ran down the same alleyway he appeared out of earlier. "Oh no you don't you piece of shit, get back here!"

Hitomi yelled after both her husband and Naruto as they ran down the alleyway. She needed to stop them, she needed to follow them. "Hinata, Hanabi" Hitomi turned and faced her children who were both wide eyed at what just transpired. "I need the two of you to go home and wait for me and your father, do you understand?"

The two daughters were too distraught to try and convince their mother to come with them. Hinata wrapped her arms around Hanabi and nodded yes to her mother before they started their trek home.

Hitomi took off her annoying heels, never really liking them in the first place, and ran after the two.

Naruto could've ran faster if it wasn't for the injury he got earlier that day and kept looking behind him only to see Hiashi gaining on him. For the hundredth time that day he cursed the person who gave him this foot injury, pushing several garbage cans onto the ground to try and delay the Captain. It seemed that the goddess of luck was shining down on him this day. The cans seemed to delay him for a little over 4 seconds. Hey, in this state each second could go a mile.

"All Units suspect is fleeing the scene heading east towards-" Hiashi punted the last garbage can out of the way, continuing the chase, "Heading east towards 5th and 47th, suspect is dressed in all black, approximately 6-foot-2, with blonde hair and blue eyes. Be advised suspect is armed."

Hiashi let out a grunt as he jumped over two more garbage cans and a cardboard box, seconds later hearing the static of the radio coming back to life.

 _"_ _This is Car 77 heading towards your destination."_

 _"_ _Car 98 coming your way"_

 _"_ _Car 27, E.T.A to coordinates 30 seconds."_

Hiashi smirked, there was nowhere for this kid to go now.

Naruto came to the end of the alleyway, a square room was branched off the long alleyway and led to a garage door, which was open. Running inside he took in his surroundings. Car parts seemed to be laying around along with a nice looking 1981 Mustang, colored in a deep red. Why the hell was there an auto store connected to an alleyway?

"Honey? It's about time you got back, I'm star-"

Naruto looked at the man who rounded the corner, to a room that Naruto guessed was the stores lobby, better known as his exit. He was wiping oil off onto a blue rag, some of it on the blue overall he was wearing. Goggles sat atop his head that were covered in the same car substance and before the pale looking mechanic could ask any other question, Naruto acted.

Turning around he saw his pursuer still running after him. A red button sat next to the garage door, he quickly punched it and watched as the door started to slide down closed. "Give me your keys to the store." He turned to face the old man and aimed his revolver at him, he hated using the gun but he didn't need to have an hour long conversation with the guy about why he needed them.

The mechanic without hesitation listened to the gunman and tossed the set of keys. Naruto caught them in mid stride and continued his momentum towards the lobby. Just as he rounded the corner the garage door was merely inches away from shutting, smiling Naruto believed he had escaped.

His face turned to horror though when he saw the persistent officer slide on his back under the garage door, the big chunk of sliding metal just closing after he made it through.

Naruto cursed at himself and ran. Running through the lobby he made past the dull fold out chairs and stupid paintings just as a woman walked through the entrance. At the sight of Naruto she screamed as his outfit just read 'trouble'.

"Get the hell out of the way!" he pushed her to the side roughly, making her fall to the ground and the bag of groceries she was carrying to spill. After he exited the store, Naruto forced the glass door to close quickly before pulling out the keys he 'borrowed'. As he put the key in the keyhole he saw Hiashi round the corner into the lobby.

 _'Shit, shit, shit, shit, hurry up you idiot.'_

The sound of a lack activating cooled Naruto especially when it locked just as the Captain had started pulling on the handle. The glass was sound proof but Naruto could read the lips of the Captain and knew some pretty bad vulgarity was going off inside the store.

The young thief smiled triumphantly and began to walk down the sidewalk away from the crazy Captain. He felt the adrenaline that spiked his system start to drain, as the pain from his foot wound started to eat away at his psyche. Naruto knew he needed to get it checked out, but **_'he'_** wouldn't allow that.

Looking down though he could see blood start to pool out of his crappy construction worker boots. All that running he did, his right foot has taken one hell of a beating. Maybe he could schedule one of these secret meetups with the doctor again.

All in all that stuff was for a different day. He should consider himself lucky for escaping the Captain of the police force, now it was time to return home and hide. Hopefully his master was when in a better mood then yesterday. Naruto was sure that he would be upset to hear that he didn't steal anything and didn't make money, but when he mentioned escaping the arrest from the Police Captain he would understand. Right?

Naruto threw his hood over his head and walked down the street, feeling that something was still wrong and his senses were never wrong.

That sound. Sirens started blaring around him. _'How could he forget about the backup? His master was right he was stupid.'_

Two police cruisers skidded around the corner of the intersecting street he was heading for, maybe they weren't looking for him?

 _ **"You there with the black hoodie stop!"** _ the PA system on the cruiser shouted out. Maybe Naruto really was dumb, they weren't looking for him? He needed to start actually using his brain soon, maybe he would survive then.

Turning around he grew more scared when another cruiser came barreling around the corner, lights on. Naruto couldn't think, what should he do? They fucking sandwiched him and he had nowhere to go. Thinking back this was all that nice lady's fault. She broke down his emotional barriers with a few gentle words and a warm hug. He felt like a moron for falling for such a trick, it was like his master said, no one gave a damn about him. Trust no one.

That was rule number one that he set for himself and he broke it.

Shattering glass made Naruto look at the shop he just ran out of to see Hiashi standing up from the pavement, wiping pieces of glass from his sweater vest that he had underneath his leather jacket. Naruto looked at him incredulously, he broke through the door with his body? Just how much did he want to catch him? That was pretty easy actually, I mean he went as far as to use his wife as collateral

The panic of being sent away and killed forced the boy to turn and run across the street, the police cruisers hot on his tail, as well as Hiashi. Naruto ran through the back alley and immediately froze about 20 steps in. Not only was the alleyway a dead end but there were two people standing at the end, leaning on top of a parked BMW. They both wore white tank tops with baggy cargo shorts, orange bandanas tied on their heads and covered in tattoos of what looked like dead people's faces. He knew who these guys were, how could the master send these people after him? He wasn't even in custody and yet he would send them. More importantly how did he know about this? How did he know that he was tricked and was on the run?

One looked to be about 6-foot-6 and the other around 5-foot-10. The taller man held a pump action shotgun behind his head, a wicked smirk never faltering from his face as he stared at the young boy. The shorter man wore a second bandana over his face and looked to be holding a Micro Uzi.

"It is your time Naruto, **'He'** sends his regards."

The shorter man aimed the Micro Uzi at Naruto. The young thief known as Naruto knew his life was over. The master has ordered his execution and when the mastered ordered an execution of another member, it was always carried out. In fear that if you failed someone else under his command would come after you. There was nowhere to run and there was nowhere to hide it looked like it was finally going to be over.

He had a good run. Fifteen years is a long time, especially for the type of life he lived. Naruto knew 12 year olds that lost their lives in outer family wars. Even he was surprised that he lasted this long to start with, through all the hell he was put through and he never cracked in his physical or emotional training.

Well except for once.

Looking back at the nice lady, even though she tricked him, he was glad that he hadn't realized the backstabbing at first. Because for the first time ever he felt some sort of happiness, even if it turned out to be fake, he felt for a fraction of a second what it felt to have someone caring for you. It's too bad he wouldn't be able to see that nice lady again, he actually thought about thanking her and giving her a commendation on her acting skills. Naruto closed his eyes and waited, much to the pleasure of the two killers.

The sirens got closer and he heard the slamming of multiple doors, then there was a door slamming noise that didn't go with any of the cruisers. Naruto heard long wheezy breaths coming from a woman, his eyes flew open and to the right of him was a door, that he checked earlier was locked from the inside.

Standing in the door threshold was the last person he wanted to be in the middle of what was about be chaotic gunfire.

Hitomi looked at Naruto. She had to run around the entire block to catch up with them as she saw a garage door that was blocking her from advancing in the alleyway from before. It was a hassle as she was never really known for anything athletic but he was going to stop her husband from harming this innocent boy.

He had a look of astonishment and fear, she noted and then looked to her left to see the police cruisers her husband sent for at the entrance of this dead end alleyway. Now she looked to the right and saw the reason, or at least she thought it was, why Naruto wasn't moving. Two gangbangers from what looked like the Hokage crime ring, as they sported the color orange on the bandanas they wore.

Hitomi though was mostly looking at the weapons they were holding. Afraid they would use them, and she was right to be afraid because that's exactly what's going to happen.

"No witnesses."

The shorter man raised his Micro Uzi at her. Without thinking Naruto unfroze from the middle of the alleyway and ran at the nice lady just as the sounds of rounds being fired off rang through the alleyway.

Hitomi couldn't move as the bullets came closer to killing her, although it seemed to be her lucky day.

The boy she was just trying to save wrapped her arms around her small figure and brought her to the ground and through the door. She felt the full force of the ground along with the force the body of Naruto brought. But it definitely hurt less than being shot multiple times.

Seconds later the sound of returning fire, no doubt from her husband's subordinates, sounded off as an all-out gunfight ensued.

As long as Naruto was safe, everything was good, she just prayed that her husband would end up fine too. He might be a little rough around the edges at first but once you got to know him like she and her daughters did, on the inside he was just a big teddy bear.

"Naruto can you get off me please? You're just a little too heavy for me." Hitomi giggled hoping to bring the sweet boy she saw earlier, but he didn't respond. He kept his head down and in fact it didn't look like he was moving. "Naruto are you alright?"

Hitomi felt a warm droplet of liquid fall on her bare right arm. Looking closely at it she could identify it as. Blood.

Using all the strength she could muster, Hitomi pushed his rag doll like body off of her and onto his back. She got one look at the young boy and felt bile start to rise in the back of her throat. Naruto, who looked to be about 15 years old, still a kid in her eyes and of many.

Had 6 GSW's _(Gunshot Wounds)_ in his chest.

"No…"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Well hello there readers, I didn't see ya there (Har, Har, Har) anyway I received some private messages as well as read the reviews posted and all I have to say is none of you will be dissapointed. But, to the reviewer who was talking about a romance between Hitomi and Naruto I have to give you a round of applause because that was something I haven't thought of and surprisingly I kind of like it. Although I haven't decided if that's what I want to do as I originally planned this to be a Naruto/Hinata story. If the people demand it then I might change my mind, to any of those that would like to see a Naruto/Hitomi fic either message me privately or post a public review for all to see. Back to the action, sorry for the wait!**

He ran.

Torrential downpour fell from the heavens and really made Naruto continue his hatred towards, well, everything. Using his left hand as a guide he ran or at least the fastest limp walk he could manage at the moment. The rain making the brick less resistant to his palm sliding across, while also washing away the blood trail he was leaving behind.

Despite that he felt a shivering overcome him and rack his body. His black hoodie, discarded long ago in some random ally he passed by, was now only dressed in an orange tee. A tee that was sporting some bullet holes and blood stains, 6 to be more precise. His jeans had obtained more holes from the time he took to keep his balance, only to fall like a rag doll to the ground. The cuts and bruises were causing his legs to quiver in pain.

 _'Only one more block.'_ He thought to himself.

His spiky blonde hair was soaked. The bangs continuously falling in front of his eyes for a second or two, before he sent them back to his forehead annoyed. Naruto couldn't feel too bad over such an annoyance from the rain, this was the cleanest water he _'bathed'_ in, in years. If only he had Gamakichi his frog toy, a secret from the master of course. Gamakichi would've loved to take a bath right now. Naruto was sure of it.

Naruto's eyes bulged out of his head as his eyesight started to angle downwards. The shotty boots he wore had little to no traction and add the rain into the factor, it wasn't a surprise that he was in the current position.

He hit the pavement head first, a sickening crack following suite. The holes in his chest made contact with the cold wet ground and a scream echoed throughout the alleyway. It might have been heard by the whole neighborhood if it wasn't for the _'Boom'_ of thunder stretching across the tristate area. Hot red liquid oozed from his new face wound, his nose twisted at an awkward 45 degree angle with yellow bruising surrounding the whole appendage.

 _'A fucking puddle did this to me'_ Naruto thought to himself as he tried his hardest to push his body off the floor, to no avail. _'I suck really hard'_

This was as far as he could go. The adrenaline he had spiking through him after escaping from the Liberation squad, that's what his master called them, and the police was all but naught. That wipe out with the puddle a moment ago really took a lot out of him.

He was so close to. Looking up from the pavement a small nice looking store stood there by its lonesome. It wasn't eccentric in the design like most stores in the city, apparently the owners believed the colors on their walls would get more business. This store was colored in a simple teal color that seemed to compliment the white door it used as the entrance. There were no windows which was kind of disheartening, but a sign stood in the front yard.

It read, "Doctor Jawraski. Orthodontist." Nothing more nothing less. Such a simple place but to Naruto that store was his saving grace. Of course the name was fake as was the profession on the sign but no one needed to know that. Only a cross of the street away from being taken care of, he didn't want to die yet, despite what was said earlier in front of the liberation squad. There was a promise the young thief almost forgot about, a promise he couldn't break. There was no way Naruto could die yet, not without accomplishing his goal. He never went back on his word.

That translated into the present, he wasn't giving up. Reaching out with his right arm he grabbed the ground and pulled, the rest of his body able to follow. Naruto inhaled and exhaled repeatedly before reaching out with his left, repeating the process. He kept grunting as an unimaginable amount of blood was left behind on the pavement.

A stray siren in the distance froze him in place. He listened as the siren got farther and farther away, the sound of thunder once again masking any outside noise. The siren was gone when the loud eruption in the sky passed. Giving the young thief more the reason to continue his crawling advance.

 _*Buzz* *Buzz* *Buzz*_

Pulling out the phone he had stashed in his sweatshirt pocket, Naruto flipped the mobile device open and looked at the screen. A mixture of rain drops and tears fell on the cell phone screen, pressing the green button on the dial pad, he slowly placed it to his ear.

"D-Doc, I can't m-make an-anymore." His answer was utter silence, Naruto expected as much. "I-I'm across the street f-from the st-store." Naruto began to full out cry, his sobs racked his fragile injured body. "Th-there's so m-much bl-blood Doc, I-I, n-need your help. Please Doc."

"Huh?" Naruto looked at his phones screen once more, his phone shut down due to lack of power. With a curse the phone was sent halfway down the alley behind him, the _'Thud'_ wasn't as fulfilling as he wanted it to be.

Another distinct sound roared to life, it was coming from the street he absolutely needed to cross. A car was no doubt driving down the road, at a slow pace nonetheless. The wet tires were almost upon him, the alley was void of anything to hide behind.

A sudden light enveloped his entire field of view, he brandished his arms in front of his eyes while they went to work to adjust to the sudden brightness. "Freeze!" Naruto went stone cold "Don't move!"

Naruto subconsciously fidgeted around, trying to get onto his feet. He kept his head forward as his eyes finally took in the police cruiser sitting in front of the exit to the alley. Naruto let loose a vast amount of vulgar statements while trying to focus the small amount of energy he got from adrenaline into his arms. It looked like he was doing push ups when a booted foot connected with his chin. It all seemed a painful blur one moment he was on the ground withering in pain and the next he was sitting against the brick wall, watching with half lidded eyes as two of the cities finest were walking towards him.

His chin was on fire, he tried to rub the pain away, believing that would work. But he kept having trouble, it was as if his fingers weren't willing to fully cooperate with him. That kick must've kicked the common sense out of him, not that he had much to begin with.

There were times when Naruto truly believed that the cops of the city were around to protect everyone. Before he was taken in by his _'Father'_ he came to think of them as personal angels sent down from heaven to keep the bad guys off the streets, while giving the good people a life with no worry. It came all to an end, his beliefs, once he joined the family. The things he saw that involved the police officers of Konoha were sickening. Money is a valuable object, apparently so valuable that it's worth shooting up ones precinct for half a million ryo. Of course Naruto had no recollection of that dreadful day known as the 42nd street Massacre.

It brought light to his eyes, the police officers, who took an oath to protect the innocent as well as the city they served in are humans too. They could be tainted with a simple wad of cash or blank check with any amount of zeros they wanted filled out, and in this city the crime families could write all types of zeros on checks, an amount that would give the governor of Konoha a heart attack.

Naruto watched with half lidded eyes as two officers of the law walked to his position propped up against the brick wall. One was cracking their knuckles, anticipation of the upcoming thrashing written across his young face. His partner took out his police baton with the same look.

Blood spewed from the mouth of Naruto as a vicious punch from the unarmed officer made the young family crime member see stars. He cursed in pain and spit to get excess blood from his mouth. Naruto knew he sounded like a fucking repeating record but, **IF IT WASN'T FOR THE GODDAMN INJURY HE RECEIVED EARLIER THEN THIS WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED!**

What he lacked in the smarts department, he made up for it in hand to hand combat. Being trained for years under one of the best fighters in the family helped that progress fast. For hours upon hours each day with limited rest he honed his fighting skills and with where he was now he was confident the only people he couldn't beat in a fist fight was of course the Master and his self-proclaimed _'Father'_ /trainer seeing as though his trainer was his so called _'Father'._

The stab wound in his foot, not to mention the 6 bullet holes he had was in a way restraining him from fighting back. If he hadn't gone through hell storm of pain having to spar with the best fighter in the Family every day and built up quite a pain tolerance; then Naruto had no idea if he would still be moving around right now.

"Look who it is" the officer wielding the baton crouched down to meet Naruto's eye level. "It seems we found the street trash that the Kuro Yume picked out of the gutter and decided to dress." He traced the baton around Naruto's chest, circling around the gun shot holes. Naruto felt his eyes begin to roll into the back of his head at the amount of pain he was feeling, blood was pouring from his wound like a broken faucet.

Despite the pain, Naruto heard the officer use the nickname his _'Father'_ had earned fighting in the last war. Kuro Yume, meaning Black Dream, was the title card he earned. One night a battle between his family and the Kazekage took place in the dead of night. Several high class soldiers from his family were captured in a quick pick up job by soldiers under the Kazekage crime family. It didn't take long for his Master to figure out where they were being kept and sent the best man he had for his job, his _'Father'._

His _'Father'_ arrived at the factory and successfully infiltrated the compound. Using his training and stealth skills taught to him directly from the Master himself, he killed over 40 soldiers and the Lieutenant in charge of guarding the prisoners without alerting the alarm or anyone to his presence. Naruto had seen the bodies of those who fell that night, their necks either sliced open or ripped open by hand. Some had received quick silencing shots to the foreheads from a suppressed pistol. But none of them had gone through hell like the Lieutenant.

Apparently the Lieutenant at the time was interrogating the prisoners, using any means necessary to gather the Intel he wanted. His _'Father'_ walked in on one of his best friend's left hand being chopped off with a rusty machete. Naruto guessed the pained scream of an ally and longtime friend set something off inside his _'Father'._ Next thing the Lieutenant knew a bloodied hand was protruding from his chest and in it was his heart, without so much as a protest or scream of agony his heart was crushed to a bloody mess. The limp body of the Lieutenant fell to the ground, a hole the size of an arm shown to the world.

After that the soldiers were freed and they all managed to return home without too much injured, except for the man who lost his left hand of course. Hours later when more than likely the Kazekage himself sent out reinforcements to figure out why the soldiers he entrusted to guard the prisoners weren't responding to calls. Those that showed up found out why pretty quick, and with one look at the security feed they kept on hand, the whole Kazekage family witnessed the massacre of their brothers and sisters. From then on the Kazekage had deemed his _'Father'_ and restricted high class soldier, telling those under his command to avoid any and all confrontation with the newly titled Kuro Yume.

"I bet you're wondering how we knew that bastards title name, am I right?" the pain filled grunt was something the police officer took as a yes. "If I wasn't in such a good mood right now you street trash then I probably wouldn't have told you who I am. But, seeing as though it won't matter in a little while I might as well indulge a little bit."

"You have the honor to be in the presence of Captain Kazuko Tokuda, or better known by you scum Hokages as the Bane Yubi. Ring any bells?"

Naruto's face paled, out of all the people he had to run into right now. It had to be the second in command of the Mizukage crime family. The man in question looked to be no older than 30 with an 'X' pattern scar that started at his two temples, crossed at his nose and both ended at the ends of his mouth. His green eyes held absolute confidence and at the same time showed off the hatred he had for Naruto. From the pictures he was shown of the man from shots taken a far showed his brown spiky hair, although now it was neatly combed and being covered by an officers cap.

The Bane Yubi, meaning Trigger Finger, just like his _'Father'_ was earned 100 percent by the person crouching in front of him. This man known for his prestigious fire arm skills had first received training from the Military of Konoha, being drafted due to the low populace in the Military and was given extensive training as a sniper. He participated in the war against foreign enemies seeking to take over the land and city of Konoha.

He killed and boy was he good at it. During the training Naruto received, not only was it physical but mental as well. The Master produced hundreds of folders to him, all of them containing the dirt on almost every enemy soldier, Lieutenant, Captain and even some info on the other families head bosses. Naruto was told to remember everyone and everything listed in the documents, saying that information was half the battle. Knowing the weakness to your enemy could win the fight for you even before the fight started.

After the small war was over and Kazuko became a veteran, there was nothing waiting for him on the other side. His parents had died long ago from a car accident when he was a small child, the only other family member he had married and moved from Konoha. He had no wife, no home as the landlord for his apartment had evicted him because of no payments, even though the old fuck knew Kazuko was off to war and didn't bother hearing the war vet, simply deciding to kick the man that fought to keep everyone safe onto the streets.

Don't get Naruto wrong here, he didn't like the man crouching before him one bit. He got the title of Bane Yubi because of the indescribable amount of people were killed from his trusty .44 revolver he had on him at all times, the only gun he was ever seen using. A picture of it was in the document Naruto looked over, it was painted gold and had a custom scope attached to the top, with streaks of orange and red painted on to look like a fire covered the sides.

He did feel sorry though for Kazuko. He sacrificed his well-being for the land of Konoha and didn't get any sort of appraisal for it once returning. It didn't surprise Naruto that after a month of living on the streets and scrounging around for money in dead end jobs that he was approached by the Mizukage crime family to become a soldier. What crime ring that was about to start a turf war of their own didn't want a Military vet and a sniper nonetheless. Kazuko more than likely felt this was his way off both getting off the streets and possibly getting revenge against those that did him wrong.

In fact Naruto remembered something on the news two years ago about a landlord for an apartment complex not too far away from the hideout being gunned down in the middle of the night. The police didn't have any leads on the killer and eventually the case went cold, but something told Naruto he knew who was responsible.

The man was a legend leave it at that. According to reports he could shoot the wings off a fly from a few hundred yards away.

Kazuko smiled a deep evil smirk at the reaction of the injured Hokage foot soldier, or ex foot soldier to be precise. "Those wounds look rather painful to bear, street trash, I'm sure the Hokage medics could patch you up in no time."

On instinct Naruto's eyes shied away from Kazuko's harsh gaze and looked to the ground, trying to avoid his ice filled stare.

"Oh that's right, the Hokage himself finally mustered some sort of brain cells and decided to boot your ass back on the street where you belong. It sure looks like he wanted you silenced as well." Kazuko pushed down more on the wounds, earning him a snicker from his partner that was watching behind him.

"This is definitely the handiwork of the liberation squad, it looks as though they've been slipping in the past few weeks, especially if they let a kid like you to escape alive. Maybe the Hokage is finally losing his grip on his own family, tell me street trash how are things going in the family?"

Naruto knew what was going on here. Trying to squeeze information out of a man that had only one thing waiting for him in the near future and that was death itself. Looks as though the Mizukage family thought they could get some info out of the; what they believed to be soldier that wanted revenge on the family that betrayed them. Letting out some well-guarded secrets that could change things turf wise and more importantly power wise.

"Piss off you overused chew toy, why don't you go kiss the Mizukage's ass some more, I bet she likes it when her pets beg for it." The baton made contact with his right knee and made a sickening **_'Crack'_** sound as Naruto bit down on his lips tasting copper, it was better than letting these two dickheads hear him scream.

"You dare insult Lady Mizukage in front of me you welp," Kazuko reached into his police trench coat and felt the familiar grip. Yanking out his trusty revolver he pointed the barrel at the ex Hokage family soldier. "That so called information you could be withholding is becoming less and less valuable to me, if I don't hear something pleasing in the next few seconds then ill end your miserable life. It's rather fitting for someone like you to die in an alleyway, once street trash, always street trash."

The silence between the three people only emphasized how hard it was raining around them. Naruto's focus was the barrel of the gun, rain drops landed on the gold tip before rolling slowly off. He knew that if he said something worthy of information then that would stop his death, but Naruto was quick on his feet with this. No matter how you looked at he was dead. Stay quiet and don't tell them a word, get shot. Tell them what they want to know and once they know everything, get shot and put to silence so his family had no idea who possessed the vital info. The third and least likely were the two Mizukage soldiers in disguise as police officers left him in the alley, keeping him alive until the liberation squad found him and finished him off.

"Ahem."

In a matter of milliseconds the gun being pointed at Naruto's face was now being aimed at the forehead of the newcomers. The light from the cruiser they _'borrowed'_ had died down a little while ago, they were able to see two people everyone in each crime family knew by heart, Kazuko snickered in anger this was about to get complicated.

"Well what do I owe the pleasure of this sudden meeting Doc?"

"It's nice to see you again Kazuko. I hope the cream I prescribed to you is working well on the stitches you received last week. I don't know how many times I've told you to stay away from the boos while driving, it seems no one ever listens to their doctors warnings."

The Doc just like every day for the past few years, wore the same whit lab coat with black jeans, with his light purple hair tied into a ponytail. Like most that wore glasses he pushed them up every once in a while so they stayed in front of his eyes, magnifying the soulless brown eyes said doctor held.

"Yeah, yeah Doc the creams working fine but I believe I asked you a question and I want it answered. You should know I'm never a fan of surprise visits." The gun Kazuko was previously pointing at the newcomers was re-holstered as he stared needles at the Doc, praying that this wasn't going down _'that'_ path.

"You should hold your tongue around Kabuto sensei you worm." The other newcomer was a girl only about a year older then Naruto. She had brown hair tied into long ponytails while looking much like a clone of the Doc. She too sported a white lab coat but was wearing a pair of worn down sweatpants, also wearing a rain coat unlike her idiot sensei who was going to catch a cold.

The smile faltered on Kazuko's face and pure rage left his body, how dare this small fry bitch tell him what to do! He's the Captain of a crime family he deserves to be treated with respect.

"You bitch, you do not tell me what to do, and the only person in this wretched waste of a town that gets to order me around is Lady Mizukage herself. You say another word and I swear to Kami I'll-"

"That's enough Kazuko!" the Doc rarely raised his voice as he was usually a cool and collected individual, thus gaining the attention of everyone in the alley, especially Naruto as the light at the end of the tunnel was getting close quick.

"I'm enacting the *Ishi no kengen, Naruto is under my supervision, from here on until I deem him healthy you are not to touch him." Kabuto placed his hands in lab coat pockets right after again fixating his glasses as he stared daggers at Kazuko, he never really like the Mizukage Captain to begin with, the patience of a small child and with the temper to boot. Kabuto almost found himself 'accidentally' adding too much chemicals to the man's gas that put him to sleep during his latest surgery.

Putting the second of command of a major crime family into a comma didn't sound like a good plan to anyone, but Kabuto knew how could've weaseled his way out of being killed by the Mizukage family. Call it his trump card that was the most effective against the Mizukage's and including the present they would have no choice but to obey the law he had enacted.

To Kabuto's surprise instead of giving up and leaving the boy alone, Kazuko began to laugh manically as he kicked the injured Naruto in the chest. Blood splattering the brick wall and the floor, being washed away almost immediately while some of the red substance began to soak into his clothes. The girl clenched her fists in anger and reached into her rain coat quick, pulling out a .38 revolver, aiming it at Kazuko.

"I swear to Kami, if you lay another finger on him I'll kill you. I don't care about your quick trigger finger bullshit, if I die then you're coming with me, just because you can shoot fast doesn't mean you have the ability to dodge bullets."

Naruto looked at the girl and shook her head, he needed to stop her, and he needed to stop her from doing something that could get her hurt. "Ay-Ayame nee-chan" he was able to spurt out with all his might.

The girl in question dropped her look of hatred to look at the injured Naruto, "D-don't do anything s-stupid l-like challenging the Bane Yubi to a gun f-fight. Y-you d-don't deserve to be in p-pain because of a f-fool like me, p-please d-don't."

"Naruto-kun" Ayame lowered her gun and looked at the bleeding Naruto, he was close to death she could tell and that's something that genuinely scared her. And in the line of work she was involved in being scared wasn't allowed.

"Kazuko!" Kabuto raised his voice once more, breaking a record for such a thing in one day. "You would break the law set by not only the Hokage, Kazekage, Raikage, Tsuchikage and the Mizukage herself after the third turf war. The laws that were passed to stop the mean less killing between families and instead try to coerce."

"The horns of war are blowing in the wind Doc, the Mizukage grows both irritated and bored of these peaceful times, her first target are the Hokages." Naruto with what little energy he had left made sure to get his message clear.

"Y-yeah that sh-should go well for you i-idiots. It's n-not like t-the Hokage family w-wiped the floor with the Mizukage's t-the p-past three wars." A slight chuckle escaped the bloody lips of Naruto, enraging Kazuko to no end. "C-can't wait t-to see h-how this war g-goes."

"Naruto be quiet! Look Kazuko even if you are planning on attacking the Hokage's it doesn't matter, as of right now the bill that was signed by Lady Mizukage states that any injured that I place under my protection is to not be harmed. Failure to follow my orders will not be in your favor in the future. We both know about your lack of medics after the last war, my services will be dropped from your family if you continue to hurt that child."

Kazuko was on the edge and Kabuto could tell, just one more push and Naruto was his, time to hit home. "If that does happen I'd sure hate to be the person having to report to Lady Mizukage and inform her of why her top ranked soldiers aren't being healed of their wounds and can't return to the battlefield. We all know of her short temper, something along those lines would destroy any patience on the matter and would probably take it out on the person responsible."

"Alright, alright for fucks sake." Kazuko couldn't get the re-appearing image of Lady Mizukage torturing him in the dungeon chamber for hours upon hours sent chills down his spine, this street trash wasn't worth the pain Lady Mizukage would enforce on him. "Take the filth then I'm out of here before the cops return."

Kazuko smiled once more at Naruto, "Looks like our little chat was cut short street trash, hopefully by the time you've recovered the Liberation squad hasn't done you in yet and we could continue our conversation."

Spinning the revolver around his hand like you would see in an old western movie Kazuko planted his revolver back in his holster before nodding to his accomplice to follow him. The two walked out of the alleyway and just as Kazuko passed Kabuto, the Mizukage Captain stopped.

"That excuse for us being short on medics won't last much longer, once our numbers rise in medical staff the Mizukage would like to have a one-on-one chat with you in her office in regards to this blackmail. If you think what she would've done to me bad because of losing you during the war, I could only imagine what she's going to do to you for threatening the Mizukage family."

Kabuto heard Kazuko leave and enter his vehicle before taking off down the road, letting him release the breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

"Naruto-kun you need to stay awake!"

Kabuto returned to the problem at the moment and looked to see his assistant Ayame crouched down next to Naruto checking his wounds. Running over to the young boy, Kabuto took in everything that just happened, no doubt those wounds were too old to have been caused by Kazuko, and they would've heard the gunshots from the office.

"I said to keep your eyes open you idiot, you'll be fine if you just keep looking at me!"

Kabuto got on the other side of Naruto as Ayame quickly ripped parts of the dirty raincoat she was wearing to cover the blood oozing holes on Naruto's chest. Kabuto knew he was in for a real jam when he heard Naruto's voicemail earlier but this was not what he expected to be plaguing the young Hokage soldier.

"Naruto! Naruto!" Kabuto screamed as he snapped his fingers in front of said boy's eyes. This caught the attention of the half conscious boy rather quickly. "What happened to you?! Who the hell shot you up?"

Naruto smirked, something a man on deaths doorstep rarely did. "I-I've b-b-been p-put i-in the black book."

With that the boy faded away into darkness, leaving two wide eyed people taking the news in that this 16 year old boy the two doctors thought of as family had been put in the **Black Book.**

"May Kami have mercy on his soul." Kabuto stated

 ***Ishi no kengen: After the third turf war ended in no advancements of turf for any family, a bill of mutual peace was signed by all five family heads. The Ishi no kengen appointed Kabuto as a Doctor who chose no family, seen as a Doctor that would not take a side but instead help each family with medical treatment. If the law of Ishi no kengen is called on someone then fighting must cease and the injured will be under the supervision of Kabuto. At that time the injured is not to be harmed. Failure to follow law and breach the bill will cause immediate punishment that is seen fit by the leader of the family, the punishment of death being the most comment to ease the tensions between the family heads.**


End file.
